


Pure and Simple

by tinkerballsdeep



Category: IZONE (Band)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, One Shot, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 06:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18256049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinkerballsdeep/pseuds/tinkerballsdeep
Summary: Chaewon likes to keep things simple. Chaeyeon gets in the way of that.





	Pure and Simple

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! I’m reuploading some of my works to here. As always let me know your thoughts, and I hope you enjoy reading!

 

Chaewon has always prided herself on having a good sense of self.

She was a romantic at heart, growing up on classic hollywood films and old romance novels.

But she was also pragmatic. Her brain never really stops bossing her around, always searching for a logical connection to something.

Her mother has hundreds of stories of how Chaewon would sit in front of her peg board as a toddler for hours, taking the correct shapes and putting them in the appropriate holes over and over. And how much later, when she was around 11, she’d write reviews ripping into the dramas she’d watched for all the stupid, convoluted plot holes and gaps in the narrative.

Keeping things nice and simple, that’s how Chaewon liked to do things.

Maybe that’s why she and Chaeyeon clicked instantly.

Chaeyeon’s a romantic too, though not quite in the classic ‘romance novel, sweep you off your feet’ kind of way. She’s more… in love with life itself. She pours her passion into almost everything she does and her determination is unlike anything Chaewon’s ever seen, except in herself.

Chaewon wouldn’t go as far as to say they have the same opinions on everything, but at times it’s scarily similar the way the two of them think sometimes.

They’re good for eachother, Chaewon thinks. Their friendship works.

She’s never really subscribed to the idea that opposites attract. There’s too many variables, too many things to balance out. It’s like doing long division. Chaewon really hates maths.

With Chaeyeon everything is simple.

At least until more variables start appearing.

* * *

 

The first variable: Miyawaki Sakura.

It’s not like Chaewon dislikes the girl personally. She just thinks the girl ruins a finely tuned formula.

To her, it’s like this. Chaeyeon and Chaewon are this beautifully handcrafted Swedish watch, all the cogs turning at just the right speed, just the right angle, in order to create something truly wonderful that just works.

Sakura is a hammer that bashes those cogs to pieces.

It started out with small things like Chaeyeon, sweet angel she is, offering to help Sakura out with her Korean in class. And then after school. And then on weekends. And then, Sakura slowly started intruding on their space. She started sitting with them at lunch, right next to Chaeyeon of course. She’d show up to their study sessions at the library. She’d even come with them to the movies.

It’s like Sakura is this fucking rash that suddenly showed up on the two of them, only Chaeyeon is delighted to scratch at it and make everything worse.

The worst part is, Chaewon doesn’t even know why it bothers her so much. Maybe it’s because Sakura and Chaeyeon are so different, it just doesn’t fit. It doesn’t make sense.

Chaewon just wants things to be simple again.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s summer and that means Yujin is planning the holiday again.

The house is loud with raucous laughter and bickering.

“We are not going to Paris.” Eunbi says. “You can barely speak Korean, let alone French.”

“But in France they all speak the language of love, which as we all know I’m very fluent in.” Yujin replies, wiggling her eyebrows. She points finger hearts towards Wonyoung, who swats them away.

“Hey dumbass, French is the language of love.” Wonyoung tells her. “Wait really?” Yujin says, cocking her head just like a confused puppy.

Chaewon’s eyelids droop. This conversation is making her lose brain cells by the second. Among this group there must be a combined 4 brain cells, honestly.

“Yeah, so is Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian.” Chaeyeon pipes up from the kitchen.

Except Chaeyeon who must have like a gajillion.

Chaewon often wonders how she can fit so much knowledge into that tiny head of hers. Surely she’d need to empty everything out to make room for all her knowledge about dance. And cooking.

Speaking of, whatever it is that her best friend is cooking it smells amazing.

Following her nose, she makes her way into the kitchen, where Chaeyeon stands frying chicken at the stove, with Sakura and of course, Hyewon at her flank.

Where the food is Hyewon is. And where the Chaeyeon is, Sakura is.

“What’s cookin’ good lookin’?” God she should really stop hanging around with Yena, she cringed as soon as those words left her mouth.

Chaeyeon does that cute little nose wrinkle and grins, but when she opens her mouth to speak, Sakura’s voice comes out. “Fried chicken! I was really craving it, so Chaeyeon bought some for me.”

“Well, for all our friends too.” Chaeyeon smiles sheepishly.

“It smells amazing.” Chaewon says, leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Of course it does, our Jjaeyeon is an amazing cook!” Sakura replies, hugging Chaeyeon from behind and resting her chin on her shoulder.

Chaewon doesn’t know why her stomach suddenly starts hurting. The chicken is probably just making her hungry. That must be it.

“Are you excited to be staying with me in Japan?” Sakura asks.

Wait what?

Chaewon cocks an accusing eyebrow at Chaeyeon. She hadn’t mentioned this. “You’re going to Japan?”

Chaeyeon shrinks under her gaze and focuses on the frying pan. “For two weeks.” She says, then looks up at Chaewon with the cutest, saddest puppy eyes and damnit Chaewon just can’t stay mad at her. “It was a really last minute decision. I’m sorry Chaewon.”

Chaewon softens slightly, then cocks her head to the Japanese girl. “So you’ll be staying together for two weeks then?”

Chaeyeon snorts at that. “No, I’ll be staying in Tokyo. But since I’ll be in Japan, it makes sense for me to visit Sakura’s house.” She pauses and gives Chaewon a look she can’t decipher, but it’s warm and makes Chaewon smile. “And of course I’ll be seeing Hitomi and Nako!”

Yeah, that does make Chaewon feel better. Those kids are adorable.

“Well,” Chaewon says, eager to get out of this conversation. “Make sure to take lots of pictures. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”

Hyewon groans from behind Chaeyeon and grabs a piece of chicken, making everyone laugh. She has no time for this foolish conversation when there is food to be eaten.

Chaeyeon spins in Sakura’s arms and feeds her a piece of chicken, and the weird sensation in Chaewon’s stomach grows.

She must be really hungry.

 

* * *

 

The second variable: emotions

“You miss her.”

Chaewon is sitting on the swing set with Yena, the sun just barely showing over the horizon.

“Of course I do, she’s my best friend.”

Yena finds that hilarious. “No, Yuri and I are your best friends.” She kicks Chaewon’s shin lightly, and starts swinging. “You didn’t mope around like this when Yuri and I went to Jeju island last year without telling you, so why are you moping that Chaeyeon is in Japan for two weeks?”

Chaewon says nothing, just stares at the sky, the clouds dark and grey, and sighs.

Yena stops swinging and turns to face Chaewon. She takes her hand gently and rubs her thumb over her knuckles. “Chaewon.” She says. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

Chaewon feels that familiar tightness in her chest and she lets out a shaky breath. “I think I’m-” she starts, and then stops, the words on the tip of her tongue, but her brain still not quite getting it. “I don’t even know.”

Yena clicks her tongue and sighs. Then she kicks Chaewon in the shin.

“Ouch?”

“It’s not that hard to figure out dummy.” Yena huffs.

Chaewon groans frustrated and stands up from her swing. “What am I even figuring out here Yena?”

Yena smirks. “If I tell you, that’d ruin the surprise.”

She swings once more and leaps off at the highest point, making Chaewon nearly piss herself.

“What the hell was that all about?” Chaewon yells.

Yena spins on her heel and faces the younger girl. “People aren’t as pure and simple as you think, Chaewon. You’re gonna have to put a little more thought into this one.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

They settle back into their routine, the two of them. Back to being Chaeyeon and Chaewon.

And, though she’s a bit ashamed to admit it, Chaewon couldn’t be happier that there’s no Sakura getting in the way now that she’s in Japan for the summer.

She gets Chaeyeon all to herself again and everything is pure and simple.

They’re at the park, and the sky is purpling as the sun sets.

Chaewon keeps her hands busy by combing them through Chaeyeon’s hair as she rests her head in her lap.

“Chaewon?” Her friend pipes up.

“Hm?” She replies, mostly invested in how soft her friend’s hair is and how good it smells.

“The stars are out.” Chaeyeon says, pointing to the sky. The stars are always out when you’re around. Chaewon thinks. She bites her tongue and hums instead.

“I wonder if you can see Lyra.” Chaeyeon muses. Then she breaks out into a big grin.

Chaeyeon’s eyes have this special little sparkle when she smiles. Like constellations. Chaewon wants to make her smile for the rest of her life.

Chaewon looks up at the sky, only seeing the very faint twinkling of stars. Probably not she thinks. “What is Lyra?” She asks

“It’s one of the 48 Greek constellations. You can see Lyra in August.” She takes Chaewon’s hand, the one stroking her hair, and makes the shape with Chaewon’s fingers, criss-crossing invisible lines across the sky.

Chaewon snorts. “I doubt you can see it from Seoul. With all this light pollution I’m surprised we can even see any stars tonight.”

“True.” Chaeyeon replies, still playing with her friend’s fingers. “Very true.” Then she grins widely and pokes her friend on the nose. “You’re the only constellation worth seeing anyway.”

Cheesy. That shouldn’t make Chaewon’s heart stutter in her chest like it just did. “I’m a constellation?” She asks.

“Of course.” Chaeyeon replies like it’s the most obvious thing in the universe. She sits up and twists around so she’s facing her friend. “You’re made of stars.” She says.

Chaewon doesn’t quite know how to reply, instead she tries to hide her blush by burying her head in her friend’s shoulder. If I’m a constellation then you’re the whole universe.

Chaeyeon strokes her friend’s hair. “What did you say?”

Fuck, did I say that out loud? Chaewon just sighs and enjoys the warmth of her friend. “Nothing.” She replies.

They stay like that for a while, locked in a warm embrace, before Chaeyeon speaks up again.

“Chaewon?”

“Yes?”

“I really missed you when I was in Japan.” She says, pulling out of the hug and looking into Chaewon’s eyes. “Why didn’t you call? Why didn’t you answer my calls?”

Chaewon pauses, a thousand answers in her mind.

Because I couldn’t hear about your vacation with Sakura. Because I would’ve got on the first plane to Tokyo after one call. Because just thinking about you makes my heart want to explode and nothing makes sense anymore unless I’m with you and I don’t know how to explain all of that in a single phone call.

Instead she settles on just saying: “I would’ve just missed you even more if I did.”

She’s as honest as she can be in that moment.

“I really missed you.” Chaeyeon says again. She takes Chaewon’s hand and links their fingers. “I missed this.”

They didn’t really have a word for this but it was just something they did.

Something intimate, something they both knew deep down was meant for more than friends.

Chaewon swallows the lump in her throat and croaks “Me too.”

 

* * *

 

 

The third variable: this.

This had started in the spring. Before Sakura had transferred. Before feelings snuck their way into her heart and made a mess of everything in her brain.

Back when everything was pure and simple.

It had been a day like any other, with Chaeyeon and Chaewon joined at the hip whenever possible. On the way to school, at lunch, and the slow walk home.

And then Chaeyeon had suddenly grabbed her hand, intertwining their fingers and swinging them by her side.

It wasn’t unlike Chaeyeon to be so affectionate with her. Especially when they were alone.

But the fluttering in her chest when she did that. That was new.

Chaewon felt shy and unsure and there must have been something in the air that day because her friend should not look that pretty smiling at her with the cherry blossoms blowing past her hair like that.

And from then on, the hand holding became a regular thing. On the way to school, at lunch, secretly during class… any chance they could get really.

And every time, without fail, Chaewon felt the same surge of electric in the air.

She hoped that Chaeyeon felt it too.

 

* * *

 

 

Chaewon has always had a way of explaining things, of making them pure and simple. It’s why she excelled in school.

Maybe that’s why things are so weird for her right now. She just doesn’t have the words to explain what she’s feeling.

She’d researched for hours what this feeling in her stomach could be.

According to Minju there was a stomach bug going around.

But Chaewon never gets sick and she hasn’t felt any other symptoms so it couldn’t be that.

Stress maybe? Yes that had to be it. She’s going into her senior year after this summer, and she has college to think about.

But Chaewon has the next 10 years of her life planned out and she knows exactly what university she wants to go to and what she needs to do to get in.

She turns to the most reliable source she knows. Yahoo answers.

She thinks of her question, then types it.

Okay so, I don’t like it when my best friend hangs around with a different girl. Seeing my best friend makes my day and when I don’t see her I get depressed. I get this weird electric feeling when she’s near me that I want to keep feeling. Why am I feeling this way? What can I do?

To her surprise she gets an answer almost immediately, from a user called puppyoojin. It reads: lol ur gay for her.

Gay? For Chaeyeon? That can’t be right…

More answers come flooding in.

User godjihyoismylove says: it sounds like you already know the answer to this?

User tomichan: You seem totally smitten with her. You should ask her out!

All the answers seem to be along the same lines.

But, as with every theoretical question, a Buzzfeed quiz must have the answer. So Chaewon clicks on the first link for a quiz titled “Are you gay?”

She finds herself completely puzzled as to why it’s asking her to choose between an avocado and some rice.

In the end, after taking 15 quizzes all with differing results, she is still as clueless as before.

Yena was right. People aren’t pure and simple.

 

* * *

 

 

Chaewon decides to test the waters.

She will admit, signs do point towards her possibly having some not quite platonic feelings for Chaeyeon.

But one time she thought she was super into club penguin and begged her mother to give her an annual premium account, only to lose interest after less than a month of playing. That was ‎₩75,000 down the drain.

If she asks out Chaeyeon before even knowing if she even likes her like that, it’d be just like throwing all that money away. Except she’d be throwing something even more precious away. She’d be throwing away their friendship.

She couldn’t ruin that. They’re too good together. They make each other better.

And now that damn stomach ache is back. Fantastic.

She leans back on her locker and counts down from 10.

The feeling only grows when she sees her maybe-crush approach in the school corridor, a giant grin plastered on her face.

“Chaewon!” She yells, breaking into a sprint when she sees her. She stops just short of the younger girl and pants. “I missed you on the walk to school this morning, where were you?”

Test the waters. Play it cool. “What’s it to you?” Chaewon replies, pouting and twirling her finger through her hair.

“Well, you’re my best friend and we always walk to school together so…” “So…?”

“So I’d like to know what you were up to instead?” Chaeyeon replies. “Are you okay, Chaewon? Have I done something wrong?”

Chaewon whips around to face the taller girl. “Let’s watch that new horror movie.” She says.

At a loss for words, Chaeyeon’s mouth hangs open before she clears her throat and says. “Horror? You hate horror movies.”

“I want to broaden my horizons. I’m testing the waters here.”

There’s a long stretch of silence and Chaewon internally cringes at herself.

“Okay…” Chaeyeon says.

“Sakura can’t come!” Chaewon suddenly blurts out.

Chaeyeon blinks. “Excuse me?”

“I-I mean, I want it to be a thing for just the two of us.”

“That’s fine.” Chaeyeon laughs, that beautiful rolling laugh. “So, tonight at 7?”

Chaewon grins. “It’s a date.”

 

* * *

 

 

A horror movie, in retrospect, might not have been the best idea.

Both Chaewon and Chaeyeon shrink into their seats as the killer on screen brandishes a bloody knife.

“No don’t go in there! Why would you-” Chaewon says before letting out a loud scream at a jumpscare.

Chaeyeon grabs her friend’s hand and buries her head in her shoulder. “This is so scary, why did I agree to do this?”

Chaewon is shaking like a leaf, but she still manages to wrap a protective arm around Chaeyeon. “I-I’ll protect you Chaeyeon.” She says. She lifts the other girl’s chin and sees tears forming in her eyes from fear. She wipes at them gently and whispers. “Just focus on me, okay?”

Chaeyeon releases a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Okay.” She whispers back.

The girl in the movie screams in the background, making Chaeyeon jump. Chaewon cups her friend’s face and smiles gently “It’s okay.” Chaewon reassures her. “I’m here.”

She takes a quick glance around the theater, noting that there were only a few people there who weren’t very invested in the film as they were in shoving their tongues down each other’s mouths. “A horror movie maybe wasn’t the best idea…” Chaewon jokes. Chaeyeon laughs.

“Yeah…” She shivers when the sickening sound of a chainsaw can be heard on screen.

“Are you still scared?” Chaewon asks.

“A bit.”

Chaewon bites her lip. “Would you like… a distraction?”

Chaeyeon also takes note of the couples making out a few rows in front and blushes. “What… kind of distraction?”

Chaewon follows her gaze and her eyes widen. “Not that kind, you perv!” She says, hitting her friend on the shoulder. “I was going to sing for you.”

The older girl raises an eyebrow and smirks. “We’re in a movie theater, Chae.”

“Quietly!” Chaewon replies.

“Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah.” Chaeyeon pokes out her tongue. “Sing for me my angel of music.”

Chaewon takes a deep breath, and Chaeyeon squeezes her hand encouragingly.

Chaewon avoids eye contact, staring at their intertwined hands. She sings low and soft. “Am I allowed to look at her like that?” She peeks at Chaeyeon out of the corner of her eye. “Could it be wrong, when she’s just so nice to look at?”

Chaeyeon is staring at her with an intense look she can’t describe.

Chaewon continues. “And she smells like lemongrass and sweet. She tastes like apple juice and peach.”

“You would find her in a polaroid picture.”

Suddenly, Chaeyeon’s lips are on hers, a quick gentle peck that makes Chaewon’s head spin. Her ears buzz when they pull apart

”Chaeyeon. I-“

”Finish the song.” Chaeyeon says.

“And she,” Chaewon slowly lifts her gaze to look in Chaeyeon’s eyes. “Means everything to me.”

And just like that, Chaewon found the words she needed.


End file.
